Reality bites the 49ers in form of Jesse Holley

Who needs Dez Bryant? The Cowboys don’t. They’ve got Jesse Holley, who has won both a reality show and an NCAA basketball championship. Oh, and he can catch and run to the tune of 77 yards.

Holley’s overtime catch on the Cowboys’ first play from scrimmage in overtime, put Dallas on the San Francisco 1-yard line, close enough for a game-winning field goal, delivered by Dan Bailey.

The catch was Holley’s third of the game. And third of his career. And he’s 27 years old. His previous statistical achievement had come on special teams, but the Cowboys went to him Sunday in lieu of Bryant (inactive with a bad quad).

Holley won an invitation to a Cowboys training camp by being the sole survivor of the 10-episode Michael Irvin reality show “4th and Long” in 2009. From there, according to the exhaustive Wikipedia entry on the show, he went through the trials and tribulations of a fringe NFL player before being added to the Cowboys’ 53-man roster in October 2010.

“All I know is three years ago I was in Durham, North Carolina, working security and selling cell phones on the side,” Holley said on Sunday, according to the Dallas Morning News. “Coach (Jason) Garrett told us (before the game) all to remember that we were in California, the land of opportunity. Well, my opportunity came today.”

Holley played football for the University of North Carolina. And basketball, too. He was on the team that won it all in 2004-05. While Sean May, Rashad McCants and Raymond Felton were leading the way, the 6-foot-2 Holley averaged 1.6 minutes over 10 games, scoring 13 points.

Here’s a look at Holley’s big play. For 49ers fans who are gluttons for punishment.